Meta may top Google ads

Meta is on track to overtake Google as the world’s biggest digital advertising seller by the end of 2026. (emarketer.com) EMarketer said on April 13 that Meta’s net worldwide ad revenue will reach $243.46 billion in 2026, compared with Google’s $239.54 billion. Reuters reported the forecast would put Meta ahead of Google globally and in the United States for the first time. (emarketer.com) (reuters.com) The shift follows a year in which Meta reported $200.97 billion in 2025 revenue and said ad impressions across its Family of Apps rose 12% for the full year, while average price per ad rose 9%. Alphabet said in its 2025 annual report that court orders in its search case imposed new restrictions on how Google distributes services and shares some search data with rivals. (investor.atmeta.com) (sec.gov) Digital advertising is the business of matching marketers with people who might buy something, and Meta’s advantage comes from keeping users inside Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp long enough to target ads with its own data. Google still dominates search ads, but its ad business depends heavily on people starting with a query, while Meta sells against feeds, video, and shopping behavior across its apps. (emarketer.com) (sec.gov) Google is also fighting advertisers in a separate legal front. Bloomberg reported on April 13 that advertisers, including USA Today Co. and Advance Publications Inc., joined mass arbitration proceedings seeking billions of dollars in damages tied to Google’s search and advertising technology businesses after courts found the company held illegal monopolies. (bloomberg.com) Those court losses came in two tracks. A federal judge in Washington ordered remedies on September 2, 2025, in the Justice Department’s search case, and a federal judge in Virginia ruled on April 17, 2025, that Google had illegally monopolized key digital advertising technology markets. (justice.gov) (congress.gov) (justice.gov) Google has said it will appeal the ad-tech ruling and has argued that publishers and advertisers choose its tools because they are effective, affordable, and easy to use. The company’s 2025 annual report said it continues to challenge adverse antitrust decisions. (justice.gov) (sec.gov) Meta’s rise does not mean Google’s ad machine is shrinking. It means Meta is growing faster in a market where advertisers are shifting budgets toward social video, automated campaign tools, and shopping ads that run inside apps rather than beside search results. (emarketer.com) (marketingdive.com) By the end of 2026, the industry may have two answers to the same question: Meta on top in revenue, and Google still in court defending how it built the business that used to make that lead look permanent. (emarketer.com) (bloomberg.com)